Optimal Tolerance Design of a Printer Actuator

Abstract

In this paper we describe an extension of an existing optimization technique to the tolerance design of a printer actuator mechanism. We provide the designer with a method for selecting optimal nominal design values for the parameters of a generalized system which allows maximum tolerance excursions away from the nominal design values and yet still maintains performance standards. The method uses an interactive linear-programming based design optimization algorithm to select optimal nominal parameter values and their associated maximal tolerances. We illustrate the method with a simple two-dimensional example. Finally we show the results from the tolerance optimization of a printer actuator which demonstrates the applicability of the theory to a real design problem.